Former UFC fighter Vitor Miranda comments on his farewell fight at Taura MMA: 'I needed to do one last fight'

Finalist of TUF (The Ultimate Fighter) 3, Vitor miranda is back in mixed martial arts, but for a farewell fight. Without fighting since 2018, the former UFC fighter recently signed a contract with Taura MMA and, in an exclusive interview for the YouTube channel do SUPER FIGHTS, spoke about the motivation to put on the gloves for the last time.

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With 19 fights in his professional record in the sport, Vitor, 41 years old, says he intends to feel the adrenaline of a confrontation again. The fighter's debut should take place in 2021.

Why Taura MMA?

With a history of great knockouts wearing UFC gloves, the Brazilian had some proposals to compete again. However, the Brazilian clarified the reason for opting for Taura in the fight that could seal his farewell.

“I was already considering myself retired, however, at the same time, I was always talking to Taura. My last word was 'no' (about returning to compete), but we managed to reach a good negotiation, which was good for them, good for me and, I'm going back”, said the fighter.

Farewell fight

For every high-level athlete, the competitive spirit is always present, regardless of the results achieved. Vitor, then, doesn’t think differently. The Brazilian spoke about his desire to have a fight that would officially seal his career in MMA.

“Basically, since I had my last kickboxing fight, here in Joinville (SP), at the end of 2018 (at the WGP), I told my wife that I needed to have one last fight, create media around it, a business well thought out, programmed, to close your career with a flourish. It took a while, but it happened. I’m going to do a long camp, well planned to arrive in impeccable shape and win this fight”, she confirmed.

He's going to retire, but...

With no confirmed opponent, Miranda, so far, only knows that he should debut for the company next year. The fighter, despite keeping in mind that the commitment should, in fact, guarantee his retirement from the sport, leaves the future open, in the case of a big performance.

"It's always like that. If you lose, retire. If you win more or less, probably, too. But, if you win hard, without breaking a sweat, that desire to prove yourself once again will happen. But, according to my wife, it will be the last (laughs)”, she said.

Fight with the scale

At Taura, Vitor guarantees that he will compete in the under-93kg division. In the UFC, however, the athlete played at middleweight (up to 83,9kg) and had to undergo a severe weight cut. The fighter spoke about difficult moments he experienced in Ultimate and confirmed that he regrets not changing divisions when he had the chance.

“I should have stopped this madness (of fighting at middleweight) in my second, third fight in the UFC. I joined the UFC at a time when the fighters were great, because there was no USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) yet. They all took testosterone replacement to keep training at a strong pace. So, they managed to make weight well, recover well and then I would fight some giant guys. But, when I arrived, USADA had just arrived. So, the fighters started to adapt to the weight category that made the most sense based on their structure, physical size, height, mass percentage and everything else. The fighters were adapting and I wasn't. I stuck to that idea of ​​84kg, and I lost it. So much so that, in the last fight, I fought an opponent who weighed up to 77kg. to 84kg. and I dropped 100kg. to 84kg. So, it was a very big energy disparity,” he explained.

Premieres next year

Even with the desire to compete again, Miranda explains that she needs time to readapt to her training routines. In this way, the combatant explained that this deadline was essential for the agreement between him and Taura to be successfully sealed.

“One of the big negotiations we made was that I hadn’t trained for a long time. There's no point in fighting a fight this year, preparing very poorly, getting there, and losing. So, it was better not to have fought. One of the clauses is that it is just one fight and that date will be defined from next year, when I have a correct projection for my training”, he concluded.